Guard for telephone and telegraph wires.



G. J. ELLIOTT. GUARDFOR TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH WIRES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11, 1910.

Patented Oct. 10, 1911.

laden Tar: l Cir/ables J EZZzbZZ'.

attentions JOHN ELLIOTT, or OXNAR'D,CALIFORNIA.

GUARD FOR TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH'WIR-ES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented 0ct.1 0, 1911.

Application filed July 11, 1910. Serial No. 571,482.

To' all'whom it'may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oxnard, in the county of Ventura and State of California, have invented a new and useful Guard for Telephone and Telegraph Wires, of which the following is a specification. I

In a previous patent of mine No. 928,431, July 20, 1909, I have shown a device adapted to be applied to poles or supports for wires carrying a high tension current at places where such high tension wires are strung in the air above and across telegraph or telephone wires, as, for example, along the line of a railway or any telegraph or telephone line, roadway or building which would be damaged or rendered unsafe if the high tension wires above were to break and fell upon them, the device acting to sever that section or" the broken wire from its line so that it could not. hang in the air from its unbroken end and damage underlying wires, buildings or other objects. In that patent the device acted by grounding the section of broken wire, causing it to be severed by being burned off, and the object of the present invention is to accomplish the same result without em ploying the ground connection and to cause the broken section to be placed in electrical connection with an adjacent wire or" the same line, thus forming a metallic circuit through the guard which will cause it to burn off the broken section when the latter comes in contact with the guard.

Another advantage of the present invention is that considerable economy is attained by the elimination of the ground connection employed in the previous patent.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of a pole and support for the high tension wires, showing the guard as applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a line of railway which is paralleled by a telegraph or teler phone line, and illustrating the same, overhead high tension wires which are strung across the railway above the telegraph and telephone wires, the posts supporting the high tension wires being equipped with thc guardsforming the invention. Fig. 3 is a sectional view through one of the guard-arm insulator supports on line a7 Q3 Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a section. transverse to the section shown in Fig. 3, on line mm Fig. 3.

l designates a line of railway Which is paralleled by telegraph wires 2 carried on poles 3. necessarily be wires extending along the side of a railway, as they might be telephone or telegraph wires which extend along a thoroughfare or even outlying districts, The wires 2 are the wires which are to be protected from any damage which 'might be caused by breaking of the high tension wires 4 which lie above the wires 2 and are sup ported in the usual manner by insulators 5 on cross arms 6 carried by poles 7.

The guard comprises a ring 8 supported by arms 9 so that it surrounds the wire l which it is to guard, the arms 9 being supported in any desired manner upon the cross arm 6, as for example, by the insulating device shown in Figs. 3 and 4 comprising a block 10 which rests upon the cross arm 6, the block 10 being notched transversely of the cross arm, as shown inF'igJd, to receive the arm 9, and a block 11 rests on top of the arm 9 and partially within the notched block 10, as shown in Fig. 4, a U-bolt 12 passing over the upper block 11 and through the cross arm 6 securely holding the parts together. The arms u are given an upward inclination, as shown; so as to bring the guard ring 8 substantially concentric with. the wire 4. The guard 8 may be made of gas pipe in three sections a, 7) and 0, the section a. being connected by "PS 13 with sections 0 and Z), the sections 1: and 7) being connected by a union 14. The arms 9 are connected to the Fe 13. The union 14- enables Obviously, the wires 2. need not the guard to be connected to the arms 9 and thenmoved up into position from below the wire 4, the wire ipassing between the sec tions cand 7), the union 14 being removed. After the guard is in place with the wire 4-. in the center thereof, the union 141: may secure the two sections 0 and a together, the arms 9 being secured to the cross arm 6 by the insulating device described.

Fig. 1 shows the arrangement for a three phase system and a single phase system, two wires being shown on one side of the pole and three wires on the other. In the three phase system the guard 8 is electrically connected with middle wire 4 by a wire 15, and guard 8 is electrically connet'stcd with wire 4" by wire 16, and guard 8 is electrically connected with wire 4- by wire 17 which is shown as extending to wire 15. Thus all three guards are normally alive, and 1t is obvious that should one of the wires 4 break was at a point between the two poles on opposite sides of the railway, shown in Fig. 2, the broken wire will drop into contact with one or both guards through which it passes and upon striking the guard will be immediately severed by the are, which will result on nocount of the poor Contact of the wire with the guard, so that the severed section will fall immediately to the ground Without damage, it is (lead.

I prefer to construct the guards so that they completely encircle the wire, because generally when one of the high tension wires breaks, say, for exaunplc, near one of the insulators, its first movement is an upward and backward snap or whipping action due to the action from its mechanical tension, which. upx 'zird swing brings it into contactwith the upper part of the guard ring causing; it to he immediately severed. If in its upward swing the wire did not move high enough to touch the upper part of the guard ring, its next movement will be downward and it will strike the bottom part of the guard ling instead and will thereupon he severed and fall to the ground. Thus. when, one of the high tension wires breaks it mus necessarily strike its guard ring; as the guard completely surrounds it, and it is thus sure to be severed. On the other sitleof the cross arm I have shown the two guards electrically connected with the opposite wires by wires 18 and 19, so that both guards are normally charged. Thus if the wire 4 breaks, its guard 83 which is charged by wire 19 from Wire at will sever the wire ti In order to enable linemen to safely approach the cross arm 6, I provide switches 20 in the respective wires 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 which may he opened when it is desired to cut out the guards.

What I claim is:

In combination with high tension wires forming a metallic circuit for electrical transmission, a guard surrounding each wire and electrically connected with another of said wires of dilifercnt potential from the one it surrounds.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Oxnard, Caliiioruizi, this 30th 'duy'o't June, 1910.

CiLKli'Llil-S Jiliill ELLIOTT. 

